Advice on one way flights

We are looking at a cruise in 2019 from Barcelona to Miami. I have been looking at one way business class flights from Miami to Manchester and been horrified at the prices. They are 3 or 4 times more than a return, in most cases.

I have Avios and can try to get flights using them, but I know Miami is very popular and BA only offer 4 business class ‘reward’ flights per flight. I’ve found that TAP seem to offer reasonable 1 way fares. Anyone got any other ideas?

When would you be flying? Most airlines haven't published any fares for 2019 yet, and those that have are undoubtedly only showing fares in very expensive fare buckets. The airlines need to hedge against their internal costs (fuel, currency fluctuations, etc.) spiking in the meantime, so they set the earliest fares high enough to cover those possibilities.

I'd be patient, and when the window opens for American Airlines flights using Avios (330 days before the flight) have a look at MIA-xJFK-MAN on AA metal (connecting at JFK.) Or look at Norwegian's flights from Fort Lauderdale to Gatwick, which for next month (2018, not 2019, but probably similar) are running under US$950 for one way in "business" class (not lie-flat, but recliners.)

When would you be flying? Most airlines haven't published any fares for 2019 yet, and those that have are undoubtedly only showing fares in very expensive fare buckets. The airlines need to hedge against their internal costs (fuel, currency fluctuations, etc.) spiking in the meantime, so they set the earliest fares high enough to cover those possibilities.

 

I'd be patient, and when the window opens for American Airlines flights using Avios (330 days before the flight) have a look at MIA-xJFK-MAN on AA metal (connecting at JFK.) Or look at Norwegian's flights from Fort Lauderdale to Gatwick, which for next month (2018, not 2019, but probably similar) are running under US$950 for one way in "business" class (not lie-flat, but recliners.)

You could also buy a return ticket and then simply not show up for the 2nd leg.

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I have Avios and can try to get flights using them, but I know Miami is very popular and BA only offer 4 business class ‘reward’ flights per flight. I’ve found that TAP seem to offer reasonable 1 way fares. Anyone got any other ideas?

BA actually only guarantees to release two business class award seats per flight, right on the moment that bookings open for them. This is midnight GMT (= 0100 BST when in effect) "355 days" before the flight. To calculate the correct date for booking, you need to work out what is selling today: BA sells today's flights plus 354 more days into the future. But you can test your methodology by starting to dummy book as far forward as you can.

There are sometime more seats than the guarantee, and they may be released at later times. So you should keep on watching for them.

You could also try flying back from another BA station. Near Florida, Atlanta is often a good option for premium cabin seats, and it's easy to get to Atlanta from Miami. But you need to bear in mind all the wrinkles associated with making a "connection" using two separate tickets.

One final thing that immediately springs to mind is to look into buying a ticket that's business class from the US to the UK, and cheapest cheap economy back to the US for a long time into the future. That would get you access to the cheaper business class round-trip fares for that half of the journey, and you would still have a ticket for the other half of the trip that you may be able to use for something else at some other time, changing it when appropriate.

As commonly discussed here, one way international airfares is one of the better times to use cruise line air fares. They can almost always do better in this category.

Have you thought about doing a second TA in the opposite direction? If you can't find one coming back and/or can't be gone that long in one stretch, maybe one for the following season? Buy a round trip ticket, Fly to Europe, cruise home, the following spring, cruise back to Europe and use the return portion of your ticket to fly back home.

If you are willing to spend an extra day or two in Canada on the way down to Florida. There is AirTransat. I would avoid their economy seats. Their club class is quite reasonable. Not as nice as International Business Class but still a step up from Economy on most other airlines.

Also look at the cruiseline's air. One way international flights are often thousands of dollars less expensive than buying directly from the airline. Case in point: an upcoming trip LAX-CPH for a transatlantic was costing $4000+ per person one way. Choice Air (RCI, Celebrity, Azamara) offered the same flights for $1200pp. Although there are risks associated with booking through the line, for that kind of savings it may be well worth it.

Having looked at all the excellent advice proffered here, I think I am going to take a two pronged approach. Firstly I will check out exact date that BA releases seats for the flight we want, stay up until midnight that night and try to get a couple of ‘reward’ seats with our Avios. If I don’t manage to get them either direct, or if necessary with a connection such as Atlanta, then I will ask Azamara to book flights for us.

I love the idea of getting a cruise back from Miami, but it’s unlikely that any ships will be going from Miami to Europe at the very end of November, they’re usually going the other way.

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I love the idea of getting a cruise back from Miami, but it’s unlikely that any ships will be going from Miami to Europe at the very end of November, they’re usually going the other way.

I think you're misunderstanding that suggestion. The idea is to reserve another TA for the spring, then you can book a round-trip ticket from Europe, to Miami in November and back to Europe in the spring. It's a clever way of solving the one-day way air issue.

I think you're misunderstanding that suggestion. The idea is to reserve another TA for the spring, then you can book a round-trip ticket from Europe, to Miami in November and back to Europe in the spring. It's a clever way of solving the one-day way air issue.

Ah, I see what you mean. Probably not a goer tho’ as we’re not really in a position to book another cruise in 2019 as we already have a North Cape Cruise booked for July as well as the November TA we’re looking at.

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Having looked at all the excellent advice proffered here, I think I am going to take a two pronged approach. Firstly I will check out exact date that BA releases seats for the flight we want, stay up until midnight that night and try to get a couple of ‘reward’ seats with our Avios. If I don’t manage to get them either direct, or if necessary with a connection such as Atlanta, then I will ask Azamara to book flights for us.

I love the idea of getting a cruise back from Miami, but it’s unlikely that any ships will be going from Miami to Europe at the very end of November, they’re usually going the other way.

 

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Additional awards seats are sometimes available later.

IF you get a refundable (even if there is a small fee) paid ticket, you might want to keep monitoring for awards seats, especially if you have flexibility with a day or two window.

Then if you get that, you could cancel the paid ticket and get most of your money back.

Also, we've started using a paid service to help get awards seats, and thus far, we'va always had success. And this is usually with F seats, where there are sometimes only 6 F seats on the flight, so it's tight.

Given the savings on not paying for a J flight (we'd *never* pay for F!), it's worth it.

FlyerTalk has considerable info about various services, including from those who have used them.

GC

Probably not a goer tho’ as we’re not really in a position to book another cruise in 2019 as we already have a North Cape Cruise booked for July as well as the November TA we’re looking at.

If you buy MIA-LHR-MAN in business class one-way on 7 November on BA206 --> BA1386, that would be $8,834.80 according to ITA (slightly cheaper on ba.com for boring technical reasons).

If you buy MIA-LHR-MAN in business class on 7 November, on BA206 --> BA1386, and then MAN-LHR-MIA in economy on 4 December on BA1389 --> BA209, that would be $2,271.31. Doing something like that would give you the option of using the second half of the ticket for part of some other trip, so long as it's within a year of the MIA-LHR-MAN journey, although there are things you need to watch out for in relation to changing the second half because these dates are so far ahead. However, the changes you could make include changing the route (within certain constraints) as well as the cabin. And if your plans change between now and then and it ultimately turns out that you can't make use of the second half of the ticket after all, then the airline is unlikely to do anything much about it.

To put some flesh on these bones:

 

 

 

If you buy MIA-LHR-MAN in business class one-way on 7 November on BA206 --> BA1386, that would be $8,834.80 according to ITA (slightly cheaper on ba.com for boring technical reasons).

 

 

 

If you buy MIA-LHR-MAN in business class on 7 November, on BA206 --> BA1386, and then MAN-LHR-MIA in economy on 4 December on BA1389 --> BA209, that would be $2,271.31. Doing something like that would give you the option of using the second half of the ticket for part of some other trip, so long as it's within a year of the MIA-LHR-MAN journey, although there are things you need to watch out for in relation to changing the second half because these dates are so far ahead. However, the changes you could make include changing the route (within certain constraints) as well as the cabin. And if your plans change between now and then and it ultimately turns out that you can't make use of the second half of the ticket after all, then the airline is unlikely to do anything much about it.

I would be worried about not using the return and being banned by the airline, especially BA as I have heard they have done this.

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I would be worried about not using the return and being banned by the airline, especially BA as I have heard they have done this.

While technically possible, this is very rarely done, and then mainly for repeat offenders.

American Airlines (and other airlines) periodically have sales on FF miles. They're having one at the moment (going on through 8 February) through which you could purchase 58,000 miles for around US$1250. American requires 57,500 miles for a one-way business class award between North America and Europe, so you'd have 500 miles left over. You could redeem those miles for flights on AA, BA or Iberia over the Atlantic. That might or might not be a good deal from your point of view, but it's an option. (Note it doesn't get over the issue of there being award seats available for your dates and destinations, but might be worth considering.)

https://buymiles.americanairlines.com/en/buygift/info

PS I was worried that this might only be available to US markets, but I logged into AA's UK site and the same link came up, so hopefully the deal would work with British credit cards.

I’ve found that TAP seem to offer reasonable 1 way fares. Anyone got any other ideas?

Aerlingus usually has one-way fares that are close to half of their roundtrip fares -- connect in DUB. Norwegian flies out of Fort Lauderdale. I don't think they sell a connection to MAN, but they sell a flight to LGW or have direct inexpensive flights to many airports in Europe that should get you back to MAN fairly easily. If you don't mind booking a separate ticket from London you can open up more somewhat reasonable options. Wow flies via Reykjavik to Gatwick and does not have punitive one-way pricing.

Edit: Whoops, you said you want business class. It's a pretty short flight -- Norwegian's premium economy is a decent product and they fly to Gatwick without any one-way upcharge. Might be an option to take a look at. For east coast to Europe, I tend to think that business class is a bit of a waste, especially if you leave in the late afternoon or early evening. You're probably not going to be tired enough to sleep, and most of those flights -- though blocked for 8 hours or so -- often make it in 7 if there are tail winds. I think an economy plus seat, or paying for a bulkhead or extra room economy seat, is often worth it -- again, this is subjective, but just my view. Flying west coast to Europe is entirely different -- you usually can get in a good meal and a good sleep. But for east coast, it feels like you just get settled in and you're halfway there. If you can find a late flight -- like a 10 p.m. or something -- then maybe you can just sleep as soon as the seat belt sign comes off but so many of those flights leave at 5:00 p.m. or 6:00 p.m. and it's just not worth it to me.

If you are talking about flying in Nov 2019 then you have a looooooooong time before those flights will be made available. They wont even start showing up until around Dec 2018. I would not worry about it at this time. and any prices you see now, will be totally irrelevant by then.

Yes, it is a long time away, but I need to decide whether to book the cruise or not, so wanted to get an idea of prices.

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You might want to consider Norwegian Air routing to LGW from Fort Lauderdale, we have a BCN FLL flight booked in a few weeks in Premium economy for c1300 Euros.

To clarify, my post above refers to two people. Norwegian have premium economy tickets for £490 FLL LGW in November.

Yes, it is a long time away, but I need to decide whether to book the cruise or not, so wanted to get an idea of prices.

 

But what in the world are you looking at that is giving you "an idea of prices" for flights that far off that are not yet being sold? There isn't anything you could look at now that would reliably tell you what a flight might cost almost 2 years from now.

Yes, it is a long time away, but I need to decide whether to book the cruise or not, so wanted to get an idea of prices.

 

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Most cruises have fully refundable deposits, at least until several months before the sailing date.

If your desired cruise is one of those, why not just make the reservation, and wait until flight availability and pricing is showing, and decide then?

If the flight prices are not to your liking, you could then cancel the cruise.

(This would also allow you to choose a good cabin of your preference.)

GC

Most cruises have fully refundable deposits, at least until several months before the sailing date.

 

If your desired cruise is one of those, why not just make the reservation, and wait until flight availability and pricing is showing, and decide then?

If the flight prices are not to your liking, you could then cancel the cruise.

 

(This would also allow you to choose a good cabin of your preference.)

 

GC

OP is from the UK. Their deposits are non-refundable.

OP is from the UK. Their deposits are non-refundable.

Ooops - sorry!

I didn't pay attention to the country indicated!

I think we here in the USA have gotten quite spoiled by the refundable deposits.

From what I read, there may be other/different benefits to booking from other countries, but we personally do find the refundability to be VERY convenient indeed, for a variety of reasons.

GC

Ooops - sorry!

 

 

 

I didn't pay attention to the country indicated!

 

 

 

I think we here in the USA have gotten quite spoiled by the refundable deposits.

 

 

 

From what I read, there may be other/different benefits to booking from other countries, but we personally do find the refundability to be VERY convenient indeed, for a variety of reasons.

 

 

 

GC

You’re right. The fact that we don’t get refundable deposits is a source of considerable annoyance to us Brits on CC. One thing I will do is book the cruise I’m interested in during my next cruise. That way my deposit is halved, so if I do end up cancelling, it’s not so painful.

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